ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia men’s basketball team used strong first-half shooting and dominant second-half post play from Braelen Bridges to finish with a decisive win over Hampton, 73-54, Wednesday evening before 5,911 spectators at Stegeman Coliseum.
In his first start of the season, Bridges posted his sixth career double-double, finishing with a game-best 21 points, 16 of which came in the second half, and 13 rebounds. Bridges’ 21 points is the second-most scored in his career. Terry Roberts added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Jaylin Ingram had 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range.
"A good W,” said head coach Mike White. “I am really proud of Jailyn Ingram, I don't think anyone in the room, including myself fully understands what he's been through during his seven-year college career. I mean, he is a completely different player than he was as a young player at FAU [Florida Atlantic University], he's overcome all kinds of adversity. … He made shots obviously, but defended, I thought he did a really good job defensively for us as well. That was a storyline to the game in my opinion, the second one would be the fact that Braelen [Bridges] really got it going, I thought he was good defensively to compliment his offensive prowess. He had a motor on the offensive glass as well."
Georgia (6-2) opened by making both of its first two attempts from deep and racing out to an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes. The team’s offense lulled a bit as Hampton (1-6) eased into the contest until Ingram put in his first two 3-pointers of the season, pushing the score to 20-9 just over nine minutes into the half.
Mardrez McBride hit his second-consecutive three with around five minutes remaining in the half to put Georgia up, 31-18. Ingram subsequently went down after a defensive stop, finding his spot on the outside wing and putting down another trey, as the Bulldogs extended their lead to 16.
The Bulldogs remained on fire from deep in the first half, finishing with a season-best eight makes on 14 attempts. Heading into the locker room, Georgia led, 41-26, with nine of its 11 made shots coming off assists. Ingram led all scorers in the opening frame with 11.
The second half started slowly for each team, with both sides combining for nine missed field goals through the first four minutes. Bridges established his presence in the post, earning all six points for Georgia heading into the first media break. His third basket of the half marked a new season-best for him with 12 points.
The scoring drought continued into the midway point of the second half, with neither team making a field goal for over four minutes. Bridges ended the dry spell as he converted on a layup and sent the game to the under-12 media timeout, with Georgia leading by 14.
Coming off a pair of Pirate free throws, Roberts got the ball from the inbounds pass and got the ball to the rack for a layup in just 10 seconds. Just under a minute later, Roberts hit a jumper with time expiring on the shot clock to bring his scoring total up to 15.
Georgia closed out the evening shooting 44 percent from the field, including 10-of-20 from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs nearly led wire-to-wire, taking the lead 25 seconds into play and holding it throughout the evening.
The Bulldogs will conclude their homestand this Friday, Dec. 2 at Stegeman against the Florida A&M Rattlers at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on the SEC Network+. Georgia is 4-0 against FAMU all-time, with each contest coming within the last 20 years.
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